A girls hockey team from Santa Clarita took the ice Friday morning just hours after their team van was involved in a crash that killed a player’s father and left several passengers injured on a snowy Colorado interstate.
The 12U AA SC Lady Flyers won 3-2 Friday morning over the Utah Lady Grizzlies in their first game of the day in a weekend youth hockey tournament at Edge Ice Arena in Littleton, Colorado. The team’s next game in the Western Girls Hockey League event is scheduled for 3 p.m. California time Friday before two more games on Saturday.
The driver of the van was killed, and eight people were injured in the crash Thursday just before 9 a.m. Colorado time on Interstate 70 in Clear Creek County. The Sprinter van carrying 10 people collided with a Colorado Department of Transportation snow plow, according to the Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office. Among the passengers were three girls from the Santa Clarita Lady Flyers, which is made up of 15 athletes at age 12 and under.
The van driver, who died at the scene, was the father of a player on the team, Prescott Littlefield, president of the Santa Clarita Flyers, told NBC Los Angeles.
“This is the kind of thing you hear about on the news, but it’s never someone you know or people you know,” Littlefield said. “It just completely knocked me back, knocked the wind out of me.”
Seven people, four children and three adults, were taken to a nearby hospital. All four children were discharged or were in the process of being discharged, according to Denver Health. Two adults were hospitalized in serious condition while another was in fair condition, the hospital system said.
Families and friends connected to the Lady Flyers have been reached out to the team to offer support, Littlefield added.
“The whole hockey community is really rallying around these girls and what they and their family are going through,” the hockey team president said.
Two other vehicles also were involved in the crash on the snowy interstate west of Denver.
Images from the crash site showed the roadway was covered with snow and mud. The weather forecast said Clear Creek County received snow showers amid below-freezing temperatures.
Emergency officials said drivers are discouraged from traveling in the area due to poor weather conditions.
The Santa Clarita Flyers’ website said the youth hockey organization is based in Valencia with the girls and boys teams, playing out of The Cube Ice and Entertainment Center since being founded in 2000.